My *brilliant* 4-year-old

Natalie & Bailey, summer 2012 in Orlando, Florida

Bailey really astonished me yesterday with her questions. We know kids say amazing things, but when it is your own child there's a moment of awe and pride that cannot be explained to others. When putting the two girls to bed, Bailey began to ask me if we could have another sister. I tried to let her down lightly and explained that nope, two girls was enough for me. Inside a thought process with many expletives like "Are you FO*&*U* kidding me? I haven't slept in years!! Why the h*&^ would I do that?!" But, I controlled myself and said, no sadly, it would just be the two of them. She follows up with the ever-dreaded, "How does the baby get inside the mommy?" Deliberate stalling on my part...ummm...I start in with of course God is necessary, and the mommy and the daddy need to decide it is right for their family, blah blah blah. That wasn't good enough, no, "but, how does it get INSIDE the mommy?" she probes. I try the tactic of explaining how the baby grows from a very small pinch to a great big baby, avoiding the word "seed" at all cost. Not good enough. "OK, but how does it get INSIDE?" Yeah, there was no winning with this four-year-old. I gave her a tight little snuggle and told her I loved how observant and inquisitive she was, and how she should keep it up and become a great scientist some day. I kissed my darling again, and told her I loved her to the moon and back. She retorted she loved me to Mars, and I her to Pluto. She looked at me and said, no joke, "Mom, Pluto isn't a planet anymore." You cannot make these things up.